Give It A Name And It Finds A Place

Give It A Name Festivals, based on the ones that SJM Concerts has arranged in the U.K. for the last four years, have started popping up around Europe with late spring events planned for Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Zurich and Vienna.

"The interest came from the European promoters, largely because I think they’ve always wanted a touring festival that’s something like Vans Warped in the U.S., but it’s hard to find a practical way of doing it," said SJM’s Johnny Phillips.

The biggest commitment in terms of the number of shows has come from Bernie Schick from Hamburg-based FKP Scorpio, which has scheduled Give It A Name events in the local Markthalle, Berlin Postbahnhof and Munich Georg-Elser-Halle May 13-15.

Although the promoters are all booking their own bills and there’s no guarantee they’ll be sharing the same lineup, the first run through mainland Europe has seen Schick, Silvio Huber from Austrian Entertainment and Martin Schrader from Switzerland’s Leech-Redda Music all confirming a largely emo-punk bill including Silverstein, Strike Anywhere and Story Of The Year playing all five shows.

Huber’s Vienna Arena show is May 17 and Schrader’s Zurich gig rounds off the events on the 18th.

The U.K. leg of Give It A Name kicks the week off with twinned shows at London Earls Court and Sheffield Arena (May 10-11). The lineups include Paramore, 30 Seconds To Mars, Billy Talent, Silverstein and Strike Anywhere.